The present invention relates to alkoxylated phenyl and coumarin derivatives useful in the treatment of viral infections, particularly influenza and acute rhinitis.
In humans, picornaviruses cause a number of syndromes of differing degree of severity. These include life-threatening infections such as poliomyelitis, hepatitis A and influenza and minor infections, such as the cold. This is often caused by rhinoviruses, of which at the present time over 100 serotypes are known.
To date, numerous substances have been developed which have a certain activity against rhinoviruses. The structures and properties of such compounds are presented in various papers, for example in M. S. Chapman et al., J. Mol. Biol., 217:455-463 (1991). A few of the compounds, for example, an oxazolinylisoxazole or a phosphorylated chalcone derivative or 4,6'-dichloroflavan have an excellent activity in vitro. Therapeutic use unfortunately has not been successful, however, either because of lack of activity in vivo or because of serious side effects, for example, severe irritation of the mucosal membranes in the nose (cf. P. G. Higgens et al., The British Soc. for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, (1984), 403-409).
Also worthy of note is an observation by G. D. Diana et al. (J. Med. Chem., 28:1906-1910 (1985)) that isoxazole derivatives have a certain antiviral activity, for example, against rhinoviruses. Substances containing these isoxazoles have not been used therapeutically.